(Spidey
Super Stories#54/2 (fb) - BTS) - Returning to his era, Kang befriended
Ravonna, but she became deathly ill and needed the healing power from
two
rocks held by his opponents - Bird-Men and Octopus Men.
KANG
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Extradimensional (see
comments) extratemporal (ca. early 31st Century) - class unrevealed
(likely human
technology user)
Occupation: Ruler, time meddler
Group Membership: Possibly the Council of Cross-Time Kangs
Affiliations: Ravonna, Spidey-Slaves (all Earth-57780)
Enemies: Sam Adams, Bird-Men (King, others), Captain America, Doctor Strange, Emmy (last name unrevealed), Fantastic Four (Human Torch, Invisible Girl, Mr. Fantastic, Thing), Lockjaw, Octopus Men, President of the USA, Paul Revere, Spider-Man (Peter Parker) (all Earth-57780)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Mobile across time (notably active in Earth-57780)
First Appearance: Spidey Super Stories#17/2
(July, 1976)
Powers/Abilities: Kang wears an augmented suit
that permits him to travel forward and backward through time at will.
The suit also protects him from any changes he might generate in the
timestream.
It is also capable of shooting electrical charges fired from his
gloved fingertips plus short bursts of air from his boots to leap away.
Arrogant, he has no qualms about altering history and has a high-level
intellect
that enables him to develop new technologies, such as mind-controlling
helmets, which he uses to cement his rule. His throne room also has
defensive technology, such as a force field. He is also trained in
karate.
He uses various pieces of advanced technology,
including the powerful, self-propelled Grabber,
which was capable of lifting a large building into the air.
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 230 lbs.
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Unrevealed
History:
(Spidey Super Stories#24/3) - King Kang ruled in the
far future (ca. year 3001), but planned to rule earlier eras using time
travel and electric shocks from his gloves.
(Spidey Super Stories#17/3) - Kang went back in time
to the contemporary era in the USA.
(Spidey Super Stories#17/2) - Kang dwelt briefly in
an American city during the bicentennial celebrations, but was
frustrated and annoyed by the festivities, including a stray firework
through his window. He resolved to interfere in the Revolutionary War
so that the British would win instead of the colonial separatists, and
he would be king of the colonies. Kang first went to the Boston Tea
Party protest in late 1773, and attacked the revolutionary Sam Adams
and his men. Coincidentally, Captain America and Spider-Man, on a
time-traveling sight-seeing trip, were there and engaged Kang in a
fight so that Adams could continue. Kang used his suit's electrical
weapons, but was knocked out by Captain America's shield. Kang
recovered and time-traveled to April 1775; he smashed lanterns so that
the revolutionary Paul Revere couldn't be alerted. Mystically observing
Kang's mischief from 200 years later, Dr. Strange used a magic spell to
send Captain America
and Spider-Man to tackle Kang. A quick, charged duel ensued, but Kang
escaped (with a Spider Tracer secretly planted on him) by traveling
through time to Philadelphia in July 1776, and the signing of the
American Declaration
of Independence. With Strange's help, Captain America and Spider-Man
followed and stopped Kang from detonating a thermal bomb. Frustrated
and enveloped in Spidey's webbing, Kang was taken by the two heroes
back to their own time and a bicentennial party at Electric Company
studios.
(Spidey Super Stories#24/5 (fb)) - Hating Spider-Man,
Kang returned to his time and forced citizens wear slave helmets to
make them passive, then made them wear Spider-Man outfits so he could
kick them around. The Spidey-Slaves' numbers swelled to become a small
army enforcing Kang's will.
(Spidey Super Stories#24/5) - Detecting trouble, the
time-traveling dog Lockjaw brought Spider-Man to the future in Kang's
era. Seeing the two arrive, Kang sent his Spidey-Slaves after the duo,
but the two easily evaded them. Spider-Man then attacked Kang directly
in his throne room. Kang knocked him out and prepared a slave helmet
for his foe, but Lockjaw teleported in, crushing the helmet in his
jaws, before hurling Kang into the timestream. This broke Kang's
influence over the Spidey-Slaves.
(Spidey Super Stories#30/5) - The Fantastic Four team
attended the White House for "Fantastic Four Day" and awards, when Kang
arrived to take over America. Kang used his flying yet small Grabber to
lift the White House building into the air so he could steal it. Kang
stole lemonade from the girl Emmy, then used a rocket to enter orbit,
towing the White House behind him. He televised himself across all US
channels, declaring he was the new US leader. However, with the
Fantastic Four's help, Spider-Man crashed in and knocked Kang out
before returning to Earth with the building. Kang recovered in the
rocket's cockpit, but Emmy saw the thief and attacked. Seeking to
escape, Kang clumsily hit the ejector seat button and fell headlong
into a lake.
(Spidey
Super Stories#54/2 (fb) - BTS) - Returning to his era, Kang befriended
Ravonna, but she became deathly ill and needed the healing power from
two
rocks held by his opponents - Bird-Men and Octopus Men.
(Spidey Super Stories#54/2) - Kang kidnapped Mr.
Fantastic and Spider-Man using a hidden time machine to bring them to
his era. Gaining compliance by refusing to send the heroes home unless
they obeyed him, Kang then instantly sent Spider-Man to tackle the
Bird-Men and Mr. Fantastic to address the Octopus Men. The heroes
returned successful and Ravonna recovered, but Kang wanted to keep the
two heroes trapped in his era. The heroes resisted and a fight broke
out with the defiant Kang, soon joined by Bird-Men and Octopus Men
against Kang's guard. However, Ravonna's intervention calmed Kang and
he returned Mr. Fantastic and Spider-Man back to their era, but was
sure he would see them again.
Comments: Created by Jim Salicrup (writer), Win Mortimer (pencils), Mike Esposito & Tony Mortellaro (inks).
Height and weight stats are taken from the usual "Earth-616" version, as they look very much alike.
In SSS#54, Kang says that he'll meet Spider-Man and
Mr. Fantastic again, but the series was canceled three issues later, so
we never got to see this Kang meet those two again. It could be that
SSS#54 took
place before SSS#30 for Kang
- but it's not clear. Kang was more maniacal in SSS#30, so it seems
unlikely.
In his final appearance, he has a blue face covering compared to his earlier metal face-plate (he's called "tin-face" by Spidey). Maybe the blue connects him to the Council of Cross-Time Kangs, or maybe the metal plate was for time-traveling (although he wore it for the domestic-time Spidey-Slaves story).
Kangs and similar beings who diverge after leaving
their home reality (6311) are difficult to designate, because many/most
of them are from the same base reality. So this Kang is active on
Earth-57780, but is not necessarily native to it. The human Nathaniel Richards of Earth-6311's 31st Century is the basis for nearly all divergent Kang counterparts.
Profile by Grendel Prime.
CLARIFICATIONS
:
Kang of Earth-57780 has no known connections to:
Invented by Kang, the Grabber was a small hand-held
item that could fly. Presumably using force-field technology and
localized gravity, it could grab anything and lift it into the air.
Spider-Man was unable to redirect its course when Kang used it to lift
the governmental White House building up from the ground.
--Spidey Super Stories#30/5
Created by
Kang, Bird-Men did not like him because of his despotic ways, although
they considered Ravonna a friend. They initially shot at Spider-Man,
thinking him allied to Kang, but took him to their king once they
realized Spidey's quest. They later joined a confrontation with Kang in
his throne room.
Bird-Men are humanoid in shape and cannot fly. Their
name seems derived from their ability to control giant flying birds.
The angular characteristics of their bodies indicate they are
android/cyborg in
nature. They use destructive beam weapons to eliminate opponents and
are ruled by their own king.
--Spidey Super Stories#54/2
The King of the Bird-Men supported Spider-Man's quest to obtain a healing rock to save Ravonna. The King initially used the rock as part of his crown, but passed it to Spidey.
--Spidey Super Stories#54/2
The Octopus Men disliked Kang, but held a
healing rock Kang needed to save Ravonna. Not wishing to hurt anyone,
they passed the rock to Mr. Fantastic for his quest. They later joined
a
confrontation with Kang in his throne room.
Octopus Men are fairly human-like, but have six long rubbery arms and two legs. They are not overtly violent and usually reside underwater, but can move unaided on land as well.
--Spidey Super Stories#54/2
An ally of the Bird-Men in Kang's era, Ravonna became a friend of Kang's but was struck ill and near death, and fell unconscious. Devoted to her, Kang forced Spider-Man and Mr. Fantastic obtain two healing rocks to help her. Once recovered, she persuaded Kang to keep his word and send the heroes back to their era. Mr. Fantastic was hopeful that Ravonna would have a positive influence on Kang.
--Spidey Super Stories#54/2
Kang's Spidey-Slaves were everyday men and women in Kang's time who were forced to wear slave helmets and Spider-Man costumes. They became like slaves and Kang enjoyed kicking them. Spidey-Slaves formed at least part of Kang's police force, arresting dissenters. Spidey-Slaves had no powers. Kang's influence vanished when he disappeared into the timestream. Not remembering their time as Spidey-Slaves, the people threw away their Spider-Man costumes and returned to their usual roles.
--Spidey Super Stories#24/5
images:
(without ads)
Spidey Super Stories#17, p21 (main image)
Spidey Super Stories#54, p5, pan3 (headshot)
Spidey Super Stories#54, p12, pan2 (using boot jets)
Spidey Super Stories#30, p24, pan3 (Grabber)
Spidey Super Stories#54, p7 (Bird-Men on giant birds)
Spidey Super Stories#54, p12, pan4 (Bird-Men)
Spidey Super Stories#54, p9, pan1 (Bird-Men King)
Spidey Super Stories#54, p10, pan2 (two Octopus Men)
Spidey Super Stories#54, p6, pan3 (Octopus Man headshot)
Spidey Super Stories#54, p4, pan4 (Ravonna)
Spidey Super Stories#24, p24, pan1 (Spidey-Slaves)
Appearances:
Spidey Super Stories#17/2 (July,
1976) - Jim Salicrup (writer), Win Mortimer (pencils), Mike Esposito
& Tony Mortellaro (inks), A.J. Hays (editor)
Spidey Super Stories#17/3 (July, 1976) - Jim Salicrup (writer), Win
Mortimer (pencils), Mike Esposito & Tony Mortellaro (inks), A.J.
Hays (editor)
Spidey
Super Stories#24/3 (July, 1977) - Ralph Macchio &/or Kolfax Mingo
(writer), Win Mortimer (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), A.J. Hays
(editor)
Spidey Super Stories#24/5 (July, 1977) - Ralph Macchio &/or Kolfax
Mingo (writer), Win
Mortimer (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), A.J. Hays (editor)
Spidey Super Stories#30/5 (January, 1978) - Nick Cuti &/or Kolfax
Mingo (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), A.J. Hays
(editor)
Spidey Super Stories#54/2 (September, 1981) - Steven Grant (writer),
Win Mortimer (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Caroline Barnes &
Debbie Walker (editors)
First posted: 04/12/18
Last updated: 04/12/18
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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